Asia Pacific

The great processes reshaping our world today can be summed up bythe term "globalisation". Together with the communicationsrevolution and massive urbanisation, it is reshaping theorganisation ofglobal space. It is illustrated by technological change, pronouncedeconomic growth, the dominance of giant corporations, ever more openmarkets and universal consumption. Dramatic developments have occurredin Asia-Pacific trade, investment, labour movements and politicalcooperation, marked for example by APEC, a giant free-trade areadesigned to encompass about 60% of the world's population and halfthe world's economy.

But the processes also create social tension, political reaction andlocal resistance as a result of regional restructuring, wideningregional disparities, the neglect of backward areas or imposedmodernisation.

Asia Pacific: New Geographies of the Pacific Rim, writtenby leading scholars from the region, examines the extent to whichPacific Rim economies -- especially East Asia and Southeast Asia -- areincreasingly integrated, and considers the economic, political andcultural forces at work. In the process, many "newgeographies" are being created or reconstructed. At the same time,"the local-global dialectic" whereby local forces react to,negotiate with, resist or capitulate to global forces is examined.

Part I analyses globalisation and the emergence of sub-globalregions, Part II the processes of change in Asia-Pacific, and Part IIIthe national responses to globalisation. Part IV addresses localreactions to global forces: resistance, negotiatons or capitulation.Finally the editors enumerate the challenges to the region which centreon the crucial need to manage this era of globalisation so thatsustainable societies can continue. This vast region needs carefulmanagement of globalisation, in which the forces of free trade andeconomic growth are the central determinants. For the time being, theseforces seem to be in the ascendant.